The New World
by NinjaTriplet
Summary: After the battle of Hogwarts the wizard world is in shambles. Follow Harry as he tries to help create a new, better world and also create a family of his own. Rated T to be safe for now, however this may change. DISCONTINUED.
1. Chapter 1:   Aftermath

This is my first fanfiction, set the morning after the Battle of Hogwarts from 'The Deathly Hallows'. Includes major DH spoilers, rating may change in the future.

Note: I do not own any of the characters in this story. I simply created a plot around them.

I have tried to make this as accurate as possible but I'm not perfect and bound to make mistakes so please point them out if you find them. I would like to have some constructive criticism about what I can improve, so please review. :D

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Chapter one - Aftermath

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**He Who Must Not Be Named DEFEATED!**

_After a full-scale battle at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry the Dark Lord has fallen! Defeated and killed by the Chosen One._

It was early in the morning after the Battle of Hogwarts, a young witch of eighteen years with brown bushy hair sat in the Gryffindor common room, bathed in the light of the morning sun creeping through the castle's windows. Hermione Granger was reading the front page of the mornings 'Daily Prophet', while waiting silently for her friends to emerge from the boy's dormitory.

She quickly glanced over the words written by Rita Skeeter (who had recently been reinstated as editor for the prophet) in disgust. No where in her account of the battle was a mention of the help given by the centaurs, house elves and other creatures that were vital in the victory. She knew that even though the darkest wizard in centuries had fallen the night before, there was a lot of work to do to create a new, better world.

Her brown eyes fell over the last passage of the main news headline, taking in every detail. Feeling a surge of warmth to Professor McGonagall as she read.

_Mr Potter has yet to comment on his battle with the dark lord, or what he has been up to for the past year, a statement from temporary headmistress Professor Minerva McGonagall was taken when she was asked about Mr Potter's absence:_

"_Harry Potter and his friends have taken a rest for the night, I'm sure you will agree that after what they have been through, they deserve it."_

_When asked what he and his friends, Mr Ronald Weasley and Miss Hermione Granger have been up to the past year the Professor simply gave no comment._

'What're you reading?' It was Ron speaking, he had just come down from the boys dormitory, followed by Harry. She hadn't heard them coming down at all.

'Just the morning prophet, theirs a lot here on the battle last night, not like Rita Skeeter was there, she didn't mention anything about the centaurs, house-elves or giants helping out.' Hermione said as she passed the newspaper to them.

"A powerful curse which overwhelmed He Who Must Not Be Named's killing curse in an instant" Harry recited between yawns 'Too bad she didn't realise I cast Expelliarmas!'

'Yeah well you're the "Man who won" now Harry, better get used to this stuff.' Ron grinned.

'Don't remind me.'

They all laughed together at Harry's response. It was good to be able to laugh again, Harry thought briefly, but with a pang in his gut he remembered who had died in the battle. He would never see Lupin, Tonks or Fred again. The Weasley's would be devastated; especially George and Mrs Weasley whose worst fear had been realised, one of her sons had died.

It seemed that both Ron and Hermione had also remembered those facts at around the same moment, their laughter had died down as quickly as it had started.

'We should head down to the Great Hall, theirs a lot to be done. We need to…mourn the dead.' Hermione broke the silence, the others simply nodded in agreement as the trio headed down the portrait hole of the Fat Lady and towards the Great Hall.

They opened the doors to the Great Hall and walked inside. The place was silent only for a moment until sudden cheers erupted across the hall. Harry was almost knocked off his feet due to his surprise and the force he felt when Ginny flew into his arms at an incredible speed. He regained his balance and hugged her back, stroking her long red hair.

Harry looked up to see that he was surrounded by people and flinched as a camera took a photo of him.

'I TOLD you not to come in here Skeeter!' Screamed Professor McGonagall who shooed Rita Skeeter and her cameraman out of the hall.

Harry looked into Ginny's eyes which were filled with tears, 'I thought I had lost you, last night' she whispered, pulling slightly away from him.

He took her hand, he didn't know what to say. It had only just hit Harry of what he had put people through the night before, when they had all thought he was dead. He knew he would have to find some way to make it up to them, especially Ginny. Just when his lips tried to form some words of comfort and apology, Mrs Weasley through him into a full bear hug.

'Oh Harry I'm so glad you're alright!' she said, rather loudly.

'I…. I'm sorry about Fred.' It was all Harry could say, Fred had died fighting for him last night, and he couldn't help but feel responsible.

'It's not your fault at all Harry, Fred died doing exactly what he wanted to do.' Mrs Weasley replied softly, releasing him from her embrace, giving him room to breathe.

Harry looked around, Ginny was no longer next to him, she was talking to her father near Fred's body. He chose to leave her to mourn Fred, 'she needs some time to think' he thought, before following Mrs Weasley, Hermione and Ron (who were holding hands) to where the rest of the Weasleys were with Andromeda Tonks who was holding the small frame Teddy in her arms.

Harry did not talk to any of them, he simply did not know what to say, they had all lost family members and loved ones. No matter what Mrs Weasley or anyone told him, he felt responsible. It was Andromeda who came to him first, holding his godson, Teddy, in her arms.

'Here Harry.' She spoke softly, handing Teddy to him.

He looked at his godson, looking up at him from the sheets he was held in, smiling and giggling. Harry couldn't help but smile at Teddy, it was a relief to see some happiness around, Teddy did not know what had happened the night before, that his parents were now dead. Harry put Teddy's tiny hand in his, the small child gripped it tightly, his hair turning to a shade of pink while he laughed happily.

'You'll be a great dad some day Harry.' It was Ginny, smiling at him. Tears still in her eyes, it was then that he realised, he had never seen Ginny like this before. She hardly ever cried.

Harry past Teddy over to her, she smiled looking down at him, playing with Teddy while he giggled in joy. Harry couldn't help thinking that she would be a great mother.

'Ah Harry there you are!' It was Kingsley Shacklebot, member of the order and temporary Minister for Magic. 'Now I know you haven't taken to the ministry in the past, but I would like to ask you to make a speech at the memorial service later on today. It would help a great deal.'

'A…speech?!' he said, dumbfounded. He hadn't been expecting this, but of course now he thought about it, it was obvious. He had just defeated Voldemort, things like this would be expected of him from now on.

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I felt that this was a nice place to end the chapter, I'm going away to Spain tomorrow for a while so don't expect an update for a while. 


	2. Chapter 2: Speech

_I know It's been a long time since I last updated, I just got home today. I hope this chapter is worth the wait, I will try and get more out very soon. I appreciate all the story alerts, reviews and favs. I got a much better response than expected._

_As with before I don't own any of the characters, anything you recognise is not mine.  
_

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**Chapter two - Speech**

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The few hours until the memorial service moved quickly for Harry. He had been persuaded by Kingsley (with the help of Hermione and Ron nagging him) to make a speech at the service in front of the immense amount of people who had turned up _and_ the press. But still, he had no idea what to say and he was sure that he would end up making a complete fool of himself. Kingsley had explained that the short memorial service would be held to honour the dead, before friends and family of those killed in the battle could hold more private funerals.

Most of the day had been spent with Harry sitting down at Gryphindor table next to Ron and Hermione, trying to work out what he should say. But it wasn't easy when strangers and friends alike were constantly interrupting him. Appearing every few seconds to thank or congratulate him.

'You'll be fine when you get up there Harry don't worry.' Hermione repeated for the hundredth time.

'Well, I've got a lot to say but I just don't know how to put it all into words.' He replied glumly.

'You'll be fine.' Ginny said smiling.

To Harry the worst thing about the aftermath of his victory was that he had no time to talk with Ginny. He thought everything would have worked out perfectly if he won and he and Ginny would go straight back to how they were last year. But after all he had put her through he wasn't sure everything would go as smoothly as that.

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The hours past far too quickly for Harry. Soon enough people were filling out into the grounds where well over a thousand seats had been prepared with a small temporary platform at the front. As Harry was escorted to the platform he noticed some more familiar faces in the crowd. 

Hagrid was there with his brother Grawp, smiling at him. He also saw Kreacher and some other house elves. To his surprise he also saw a group of centaurs, slightly separated from the crowd. It felt very similar to Dumbledore's funeral almost exactly a year beforehand.

The temporary minister for magic, Kingsley Shacklebot took to the platform and addressed the crowd.

'After such an event as yesterday there is both cause for celebration and mourning. However, first of all I would like to call upon Harry Potter, the hero who defeated Lord Voldemort to come forward and say a few words.'

Harry stepped forward, incredibly nervous. He felt the eyes of everyone on him. Even the centaurs were looking with great attention, but he was used to being the centre of attention and did not let it bother him.

'Witches, Wizards, Centuars, House-elves, Giants and Goblins fought alongside each other to bring about the defeat of the darkest wizard of all time. We wouldn't be here today celebrating his downfall without every single one of you who fought and died together.'

He paused, allowing them to take in what he had said and then continued,

'Many died to fight for better lives for their friends, family and loved ones. Let these lives not be lost in vain. Lessons can be learned from the battle of Hogwarts. Forget nonsense about blood purity and race, as we all stood united against Voldemort. Thank those who fought and died alongside you, whether pure blood, half blood, muggle born, or not human at all.

From now on we have decisions as a country to make. Voldemort is dead, but his warped ideals over blood and race superiority still linger. If the New World were to hold views like that a new dark wizard is likely to rise over similar ideals in the near future. We should recognise that a wide range of people died fighting for a better world. Let their wishes become true and help create a world free of discrimination. Let us all work together to create a world far better than before.'

Harry made another long pause, taking this chance to look closely on the reaction his speech was getting. His friends were beaming at him. Some wizards and witches seemed uncomfortable, especially Umbridge, who he noticed, had showed up. His surge of happiness from seeing her shifting uncomfortably was doubled when he saw that the house elves, and even centaurs and goblins were looking at him with something approaching respect. He decided to wrap things up.

'I would now like to hold a minute's silence for those who died for this opportunity. The opportunity to change the world for the better. I sincerely hope that their efforts will not go forgotten.'

The audience immediately obliged. He heard and saw people in the crowd crying, thinking of their dead. He felt a lot of guilt when he saw Ginny, looking up at him with tears in her eyes. Along with all the other Weasley's, she was devastated by Fred's death.

After the minute was up Harry handed over to the Minister, who openly agreed with Harry's views with a speech of his own. Harry sat down next to with Ron and Hermione on his left, Ginny on his right.

'I hope that speech wasn't too bad…I think I may have dragged on a bit.' he sighed.

'It was wonderful Harry' Hermione replied to him, beaming. 'People were really listening to you, and you used the chance to try and get people to accept other races, and I think it might have worked!'

'She's right, you were great.' Ron smiled.

Harry looked at his friends, they were both smiling at him. He turned and saw Ginny smiling at him also, tears still in her eyes. She was about to say something when Professor McGonogall interrupted them. Harry hadn't realised that the service had ended. People were moving away into groups, talking to friends. He even saw, with a surge of joy that some were thanking the centuars, house-elves and goblins like he had asked them to.

'Harry.' He had not noticed that McGonogall was now talking to him.

'Oh, sorry professor.'

'Could you, Hermione and Ron come up to my office, I think it's time you told me what you've been up to this past year. We can talk about your career options to, since none of you have got your NEWTs.'

'Crap! I forgot all about my NEWTs…'

'Me too.' Said Ron and Hermione together, there was a huge amount of worry in her eyes.

'Professor, I'd like to talk about our options but I want to explain about this year to the entire Order, and Ginny. I think they all deserve to know.'

'That can be arranged. OK Harry, since all of the Order are here or close by now we should do that first, would Grimmauld place be OK to use? My office isn't big enough.' She asked with a smile.

'Of course, could you get them to arrive for eight?' Harry had checked his watch, it was almost six now so that allowed him two hours to talk to Ginny, he hoped that would be long enough. Since he knew explaining about the Horcruxes would take a long time, he would not have time to explain afterwards until the next morning.

McGonogall agreed and set off to inform the rest of the Order. Harry turned to Ron and Hermione.

'Meet me at Grimmauld for the meeting, I'll need you two to help explain everything.' He then turned to Ginny, 'Could you come with me now, I'd like to talk to you before the meeting.'

Ginny managed a small smile and followed him out of the grounds, telling Ron to let their parents know where she was. Harry took Ginny's hand.

'I'll take you there by side-along-apparation.'

She nodded, so he turned on the spot and they disappeared with a pop.

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_I'd like to get some more reviews before I update. I was really pleased with the amount of alerts and favourites for the last chapter but it could've done with more reviews. I'm open to opinions on where I should go with this as the story is not completely worked out in my head yet so all ideas are welcome. Thanks for taking the time to read this!_


	3. Chapter 3: Apology

_I know this isn't as long as some of my other chapters but I thought it was a good place to end. This is my first time trying to write out a scene like this so please give me some pointers so I can improve on my writing. _

_Thanks once again to everyone who reviewed or put this story on alerts or favourite lists. The response has been great so far, keep up the reviews and I'll keep on writing._

_Disclaimer – I don't own anything except my ideas._

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**Chapter three - Apology**

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As soon as Harry and Ginny entered Grimmauld place they were greeted by and uncharacteristic grin from Kreacher, the house elf.

'Master Harry, you won! The Dark lord has been defeated!'

'Err…Thanks Kreacher.' Harry replied, slightly startled at the house elves greeting.

'Listen, some guests will be arriving soon. Could you please let them in and let me know when they arrive?' he requested.

'Of course!' Kreacher moved into a low bow and watched as Harry led Ginny into one of the many rooms of the house.

'_That _was Kreacher? What did you do to him?' Ginny laughed as she sat down on the sofa, with a slightly surprised look on her face.

'Yeah, I guess he warmed to me this past year.' Harry shrugged.

'So…You wanted to talk?'

'Err…Yeah I did.' Harry looked slightly nervous, but took a deep breath to compose himself.

'Listen – Gin. I'm going to be telling everyone what me Ron and Hermione have been up to the past year. I wanted to tell you everything before them but I don't feel like going through it all twice in one day…'

'So…?'

'So…Gin. I wanted to say that I'm sorry I left you last year…I was trying to keep you safe. And…I'm sorry for what I put you through in the battle, Fred died fighting to help me and I had to pretend I was dead. I guess I just wanted to say I'm sorry for everything I've put you through, I wanted things to go back as they were before all this but I understand if you can never forgive me.'

Tears started forming once again in Ginny's eyes, the past few days she must have cried more than ever before in her life. She wasn't the type of person who cried easily, and Harry hated to see her hurt.

'Fred's death wasn't your fault Harry!' she almost screamed at him. Angry that he could even _think_ of blaming her brothers death on himself.

'He died doing what he believed in, why do you have to always take on everyone else's burdens?' her tears were pouring out now as she began releasing the feelings that she had been keeping inside of her.

'You say you left me to protect me Harry. I'm 16! I can take care of myself as I've shown you before like back in the department of mysteries. I'm smarter than Ron, I can hex better than them both! I could've helped you Harry, but you didn't let me. You didn't even tell me what you were doing all this time.'

Harry just stood there, taking her outburst without arguing back at her. It was like he had already anticipated her saying all of this beforehand. She stared deep into his emerald eyes, seeing his own tears forming.

'You accepted Ron and Hermione's help but not mine…why didn't you just let me help you Harry?' She asked, softer this time.

'Ron and Hermione are my best friends Gin. We've faced dangers together many times before. But to me you're more than that. If Voldemort had found out about my relationship with you he would have used you against me. I…couldn't live with myself if I had lost you Ginny.' Harry replied to her, his eyes never leaving hers.

'How do you think I would have felt if I had lost _you_? How do you think I felt when I thought I _had_!' She had collapsed into a heap, tears still coming out of her eyes. The nightmare of the day before returning to her.

Harry was taken aback, he hadn't thought about it this way before. He took a step forward towards Ginny and knelt down next to her and slowly placed his arms around her, pulling her into a soft embrace.

'I'm sorry Ginny. I'm here now. I'm alive and Voldemort's gone. We can be together again…without him coming between us.'

'Y-You really mean that?' she asked, her voice barely a whisper. A small glimmer of hope rose back inside her. The possibility of the life she had always hoped returning to her, the life that she thought had gone forever.

'Yes Gin. I love you and I won't let anyone come between us again.' The words had just come out of Harry's mouth of their own accord, just like the speech earlier, those words had come from his heart.

Ginny was completely shocked, he hadn't said those words to her since her fifth year. She then smiled, truly happy for the first time in a while.

'I love you too Harry.'

Harry and Ginny had both pulled themselves away from each other slightly, still holding each other but now staring into each other's eyes, smiling. Slowly, without any communication needed. Their lips met in a warm, slightly wet embrace.

Harry's whole world span before him, just like it had on that first kiss with Ginny in the Gryphindor common room. He felt incredible. The creature in his chest reborn, roaring in triumph until-

'I see you two are back to normal.' Hermione laughed from the doorway, Ron beside her, with a slightly weary and embraced look on his face.

'Wha-?' said Harry, startled as he pulled away from Ginny.

'Everyone's started arriving downstairs, you should come down.' She replied, still grinning sheepishly.

'Umm-Yeah.' Harry quickly left the room, beginning to compose himself leaving Hermione and Ginny inside and a worried Ron following him.

'You better not be getting her hopes up again. You know what I said earlier.' He whispered, harshly.

'Don't worry Ron. I love her.' Harry replied, feeling elated after getting back together with Ginny at last. Leaving a startled Ron standing wide eyed on the landing.

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_Hope you liked it! Remember to review._


	4. Chapter 4: Harry's Tale

_Thanks for all the reviews so far! _

_**I've decided to take the advice from brios and look for a beta reader. If you'd like to help out please email or message me. I'd prefer someone who has a decent vocabulary and experiance in writing or editing. Also good knowledge of the Harry Potter books would help.**_

_This chapter is more than twice as long as the last one, I just wrote and kept on writing. I couldn't decide on what parts to cut out so most of this has been left in, thats another reason I need a beta. :)  
_

_Warning - This chapter probably has the most spoilers so far. I have to stress that if you haven't read all the books: DON'T READ THIS. _

_Disclaimer - I own nothing but my ideas_

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**Chapter four - Harry's Tale **

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Ginny and Hermione entered the dining room of Grimmauld place to find the Order of the Phoenix fully assembled around the large dining table. Harry was at the head of the table, with Ron on his right. Hermione sat down next to Ron and Ginny proceeded to sit in the only remaining chair, on Harry's left before being interrupted by her mother.

'Ginny, please wait upstairs.' Mrs Weasley said quickly, taking hold of her arm.

'But Mum!' she argued before being interrupted by Harry.

'Mrs Weasley please allow Ginny to hear what I have to say.' He requested, causing Ginny to look rather smile, it felt good to have him stand up for her.

'But she's not of _age_!' screamed a surprised Mrs Weasley, staring at Harry now but looking slightly helpless at being unable to prevent her only daughter from hearing what would of course prove to be a rather disturbing conversation.

'I was planning to tell Ginny beforehand, I feel she deserves to know what I'm about to say and I would tell her afterwards if needed.' He replied firmly, feeling guilty about demanding anything of Mrs Weasley. She was to him the mother he never had, but he would not be swayed on this. Ginny had a right to know about what he had been up to, '_more so than anyone else,'_ he thought inwardly.

Defeated, Mrs Weasley released her daughter and sat back down, looking back at Harry intently like nothing had happened. At this, Ginny's grin grew much larger and she took her place next to Harry, giving him a look that said '_thank you'_ before taking his hand in hers under the table.

Harry's emerald eyes moved across the table, studying everyone who had shown up. From his right they were Ron and Hermione, Elphias Doge, Aberforth, Hagrid, Dedalus Diggle and Hestia Jones (both recently returned from the Dursley's), Professor McGonogall, Kinglsey, Professor Slughorn (who had joined the order recently), Mr and Mrs Weasley, Bill and Fleur, Charlie, George, Percy and lastly Ginny. Some Order members had not made it due to being looked up in Azkaban or in Mundungus Fletcher's case, still in hiding. Upon finishing his search around the room, Harry had decided. He could trust everyone present with the truth, _all of it_.

All the eyes in the room were looking at Harry, in anticipation. Waiting for the explanations to begin, he cleared his throat and began telling them everything about the Horcruxes, dodging the subject of the deathly hallows.

'You wanted to know what we have been doing the past year. Dumbledore had given us a mission as you already know. That mission was to make Voldemort mortal once more and then kill him.'

There were whispers of surprise around the room; Arthur Weasley broke the silence.

'Your saying Voldemort was _immortal_?' he asked.

'Yes, when Voldemort killed my parents and his killing curse rebounded off me he should have died. But he had used incredibly powerful and terrible dark magic to ensure his survival. Voldemort made Horcruxes, which is to say he split his soul into pieces. This has been done before but most dark wizards only made one. Voldemort split his soul into seven pieces.'

The room erupted in disgust. Slughorn, who had some knowledge of the subject, was the most appalled.

'_Seven_, he went _that_ far?'

'Dumbledore believed that Voldemort chose to split his soul into seven pieces because seven is the most powerful magical number. He had told us that we would need to destroy the six Horcruxes before Voldemort could be defeated. He also said that I had already destroyed the first one in my second year.'

'_Riddles diary_.' Ginny mouthed, 'That _thing_ was part of Voldemort's _soul_?' she screamed in disgust.

Harry nodded, 'Dumbledore had also found another, destroying it himself. It was a ring passed down by Salazar Slytherin to Marvolo Gaunt, Voldemort's Grandfather. Dumbledore put on the ring but the Horcrux cursed him. That's why his hand suddenly turned black. He destroyed the ring but Snape told him the curse would kill him within a year.'

Harry had decided not to explain about the ring also holding the resurrection stone. They did not need to know about that particular hallow.

'Dumbledore also guessed that Nagini, Voldemort's snake would be another Horcrux, that was why I asked Neville to kill it yesterday. Another Horcurx, Dumbledore discovered to be Slytherin's locket. On the night he died, we were looking for it. But Regulas Black had beat us to it.'

He allowed everyone to absorb this information before continuing he didn't want to have to repeat anything.

'So that was what you were doing, finding and destroying the remaining Horcruxes?' McGonogall asked. In reply the trio simply nodded.

'If you had already taken care of two Horcruxes, and we know Neville destroyed the last one, what of the other three?' questioned Kingsley.

'With Kreacher's help, we found out the Mudungus had stolen the locket from this place. We got it back off him and destroyed that first. Then we were researching where the last two could be. After getting caught by death eaters and taken to the Malfoy manor we heard Bellatrix seem frightened when she thought we had got Gryphindor's sword out of her vault and asked what else we had taken. After escaping from there with Dobby's help, we planned to break into Gringrotts, finding another Horcrux, Hufflepuff's cup.'

There was a murmur of understanding as people realised why the three of them had been seen flying out of the goblin bank on a dragon.

'Lastly, we looked for a Horcrux at Hogwarts.'

'So when you were looking for Ravenclaw's diadem…' Ginny muttered.

'We were looking for a Horcrux, yes. After destroying that we tried to find Voldemort in order to kill Nagini, and then him. But Voldemort had realised we were after his Horcruxes and had protected Nagini. There was also more to do than we had thought, when Voldemort killed Snape, Snape gave me some of his memories.'

At that point many people across the table asked similar questions.

'Why did Voldemort kill Snape?'

'Why did Snape help you?'

'You'll have to tell them Harry,' Hermione whispered. 'You can't explain this without mentioning the elder wand.'

Harry looked reluctant, but after getting a reassuring squeeze from Ginny, he continued.

'Are you familiar with the elder wand, or the deathstick?'

Every single person on the table stared at him at once. 'That's just a fairy tale!' 'You're saying the elder wand exists?'

'Yes.' He said simply, at that point he realised the wand was still in his pocket. He did not show them however; they didn't need to know he hadn't hidden it yet, he made a mental note to do so as soon as they left. 'Dumbledore owned the elder wand, after taking it from Grindlewald. Voldemort believed that as Snape killed Dumbledore, Snape was the true owner of the elder wand. But he was wrong. Malfoy had disarmed Dumbledore, so Malfoy was the owner, Snape may have killed him but he did so on Dumbledore's order.'

There was a sudden burst of outrage at the revelation. 'How could Dumbledore have asked Snape to kill him?' more than one person shouted together.

'As I mentioned before, Dumbledore had a limited time left to live. He did not want Voldemort to gain possession of the elder wand and the act would fortify Snapes position, as Voldemort's most trusted Death Eater. This meant that Voldemort thought he owned the wand, he didn't, and I did. I defeated Malfoy, that passed the ownership onto me and is why Voldemort's killing curse rebounding on himself yesterday.'

The commotion was silenced at this fact for the best parts of a minute until Ginny spoke up. 'But what happened to you in the forest? We thought you were dead.'

'This part is the most difficult to explain…' he trailed off. 'Kreacher!'

Crack 

The house elf appeared immediately.

'Kreacher, can you bring the package Professor McGonogall brought?' He asked.

Kreacher bowed low and then disapparated again. The whole table, except McGonogall, looked surprised. Even Ron and Hermione were confused, they had no idea that he had asked the Professor to bring Dumbledore's pensive and the flask next to it before he had made his speech.

Kreacher arrived with the pensive and some realisation appeared on Ron and Hermione's faces.

'I…didn't think I could explain all of this myself.' Harry announced, realising that tears were forming in his eyes because of what he was about to show them. He signalled for everyone to stand, explaining that they should dive in at around the same time. They all appeared at the deserted playground, watching intently, going through each one of Snape's memories.

Through watching the memories tears formed in almost everyone's eyes as they realised proof of Snape's allegiance, and watched in horror when they discovered that Harry himself was a Horcrux. Rising from the pensive, Harry noticed that Ginny was now looking at him, grasping tightly at his hands, tears falling down her face. Everyone else was staring at him.

'What…happened Harry?' she asked.

Without his eyes leaving hers, he explained, her hands almost crushing his own as she discovered what he went through. 'I…put on the invisibility cloak and walked towards to forest, I told Neville to kill Nagini on my way down and went towards the forest. To my death.' He had decided to skip out finding the resurrection stone, since he had not told them about the stone being in the ring, perhaps he would tell Ginny later.

'I walked straight up to Voldemort, without bothering to take out my wand. He cast Avada Kedavra on me and I collapsed, so did Voldemort. I thought I was dead but for some reason the curse hadn't worked, it had destroyed the last Horcrux instead.' He recalled what Dumbledore had told him in King's cross, telling them the reason he did not die 'I guess I didn't die because Voldemort used my blood to return. That put my mother's protection inside him and so making it impossible for him to kill me, Voldemort thought I was dead though and Hagrid carried me to the school. That's about everything I guess.'

Harry was glad no one asked how he knew that was why he couldn't die as he didn't feel like recounting the events at Kings cross, they might think he was insane. Instead, once Harry was finished Ginny and Mrs Weasley at once threw themselves at him, hugging him. While the others in the room shed tears or looked on in disbelief.

'You…walked to your death, to save us.' Ginny sobbed into his chest.

'Harry dear, you've been through far too much!' Mrs Weasley cried.

After receiving many hugs and kind words which lasted hours, the house began to empty, people still discussing the revelations in hushed whispers. Leaving Harry, Ron, Hermione, Ginny, Mr Weasley, Professor McGonogall and Kingsley alone in the house. Kingsley then announced his departure, taking Harry aside first.

'That speech you made at the funeral, I know I'm only the acting minister for magic but I want to try and make all of those things come true. But I'll need your help Harry, you're a hero to most witches and wizards in this country and we'll need to use that if this 'New World' is going to work.'

Harry agreed, telling Kingsley to send an owl if he could help with something before Kingsley flooed back to the ministry. Seconds after Kingsley left, McGonogall called Harry over with Ron, Hermione and Ginny.

'Term has ended, it would be impossible to teach right now with the school in that state so you all have extended holidays. Ginny I expect you to return to Hogwarts next year, as for the rest of you, meet me at the school in one week and we will discuss your options.' She stated, before leaving herself.

'I have to go back to school?' Ginny complained loudly.

'You can't just drop out, you need to get your NEWTs.' Harry argued.

'Hypocrite.' Ginny laughed, 'look who's talking!'

Harry held up his hands in defeat. 'Yeah I know but still…'

'Don't worry Harry I'll go back. I'm just not very keen on spending another year in Hogwarts without you…' she said, looking up at him with puppy dog eyes.

'Don't worry Gin. We'll make up for it in the holidays,' he grinned kissing her on the lips.

'Time to go!' Mr Weasley shouted, obviously surprised, he didn't know Harry and Ginny were going out. Harry looked up and saw Ron and Hermione pulling away from each other while him and Ginny did the same. Laughing, the four followed a very embarrassed Mr Weasley outside and apparated to the burrow as a group.

* * *

I'm not sure how I feel about this chapter, please review.

Also, remember to message me if you feel like becoming being my beta reader.


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